Finding Your Way Around Salt Lake City

Finding your way around Salt Lake City is incredibly easy. In fact, it’s so easy that I’m not writing an instructional article, so much as a praise article. Basically, there are many benefits to the way this city is structured and they are a big part of why I live here.

First of all, the city fantastic. I love big cities, but I can’t stand getting lost. SLC is basically a big city with a little city feel in so many ways. You can always get to where you need to go with a basic understanding of how the streets work; you can marvel at the early 1900 aesthetics while remaining confident you will not lose your way.

I really enjoy the mix of old and new architecture. That is one rule I feel all cities should follow when finding space to utilize for their next big venture. JUST DON’T GET RID OF ALL THE STUFF WE’VE GROWN TO LOVE!

All you need to know beforehand to know how the city works, is that the city has a middle point and everything builds in directions outward. If you move north from the middle of the city, each block progresses from 100 North (1^st North), 200 North, 300 North, and so on with shops and residences in between the hundreds. If you were looking for a house on 2350 North, it would be between 2300 N. and 2400 N. And it’s the same with all directions. Going south, you start with 100 S. (1^st south) and progress in the same way as before. East and West are just the same, as well.

That is the grid pattern that the city runs on. It’s almost like a big suburb in some ways. There’s none of this “oh, the building you’re looking for is on 110^th and Parkway” or “Yeah, you’ll find it around 40^th and Oceanview.” That can get really annoying when you’re visiting a city. A visitor shouldn’t be expected to know where every single street is. In fact, a resident shouldn’t even be expected to know where every single street is. It’s absurd to even think that.

But, I know that many residents of big cities don’t know where everything is. They mostly just know where they live, where they work, and where they get groceries. Anything beyond that, well, there’s an extensive set of directions to go along with finding one street—It’s sort of like “yeah, to find king street, you’re gonna go along whitecastle Rd. until ya reach maelstrom blvd. then, you’ll take a right on ichabod wy. A left on coriander and another left on Phillips. Then, after that….” And so on, and so on.

So, let’s look at how easy it is to find something in Salt Lake City.

Yes, there are street names in Salt Lake City. It’s not only numbers, but instead of being forced to find a street amongst other streets exactly like it, you can find a street amongst other streets that are primarily given a number name instead. So, Alden street is just off of 1300 E. and 2700 S. Yuma st. is just off of 2700 s. and just above 2000 E. Parley’s Wy. Is straight up 2100 S. See? If you visited, you wouldn’t even need a map of the city.

Hopefully, I’ve answered all your questions. Good luck and enjoy the city!